LightBurn

Overview

Before LightBurn, running a laser cutter meant at least two programs and usually three: one to draw the artwork, one to convert it into machine instructions, and one to drive the controller. Every change meant walking the whole chain again, and every step lost something. This program collapses the chain into one window. Draw or import the artwork, set the cut parameters per layer, and send it to the machine from the same place.

It talks directly to the common controller families over the usual connections, reads and writes the machine's own file formats where relevant, and understands the difference between a cut, a scan and an image engraving at the parameter level rather than expecting you to encode that yourself. For anyone running a hobby or small workshop machine it has become the default answer, and this build carries the licensing already applied with the full controller support included.

Drawing and importing artwork

The editing tools cover what laser work actually needs: primitives, a node editor for paths, boolean operations, offsets for kerf compensation, arrays, text on a path and welded outlines. It is not a general purpose vector suite and does not try to be, but the tools present are the ones a job actually requires, and drawing a simple part here is faster than drawing it elsewhere and importing.

Import handles the standard vector formats plus the raster formats for engraving. Vector imports keep their colours, which is significant because colour is how layers and therefore cut parameters are assigned. Bringing artwork in from a proper vector suite with the layers colour separated is the usual workflow and it transfers cleanly.

Image engraving includes several dithering methods, threshold control and a gamma adjustment, with a preview of what the result will actually look like at the chosen line interval. Getting a photograph to engrave well is mostly a matter of that preview and a couple of test tiles, and having both in the same program shortens the loop considerably.

Cut settings and the preview

Every layer carries its own speed, power, pass count, interval and mode, and settings can be saved into a library organised by material and thickness. That library is the thing that turns a machine from an experiment into a tool, since the settings that worked on five millimetre plywood last month are there next time rather than being rediscovered.

The preview simulates the whole job before it runs, showing the path order, the travel moves and a time estimate, and can be scrubbed like a timeline. Watching the simulation is the single most effective way to catch a job that would have cut an inner detail after the outer profile and dropped the part into the bed. Cut order can be set manually or optimised by rules, with inner shapes before outer as the sensible default.

Rotary attachments are supported for engraving cylindrical objects, with the axis and diameter configured in the same settings, and camera support lets a workshop camera be calibrated to the bed so artwork can be positioned visually over material already sitting there.

Machines, controllers and the workshop

The supported controller list covers the common families found in both imported machines and the more established brands, over serial and network connections. The machine is set up once with its bed size, origin corner and homing behaviour, and multiple machine profiles can be kept so a workshop with two different cutters does not need two installations.

Framing runs the head around the job's bounding box before cutting so the material position can be checked, and a low power outline pass does the same with the beam visible on machines that support it. Job origin can be set from the current head position, from an absolute bed coordinate or from a user origin, which covers cutting from an offcut rather than a full sheet.

The usual safety point applies regardless of software: a laser cutting the wrong material produces fumes that range from unpleasant to genuinely dangerous, and no cut setting fixes that. Know what the sheet is made of before it goes in the bed.

What you get

• Layout, editing and machine control in a single program
• Node editing, boolean operations, offsets and kerf compensation
• Vector import that preserves colour for layer assignment
• Image engraving with dithering methods and a realistic preview
• Per layer speed, power, pass count, interval and mode
• Material settings library organised by material and thickness
• Full job simulation with path order, travel moves and a time estimate
• Cut order optimisation with inner before outer as the default
• Rotary attachment support with axis and diameter configuration
• Camera calibration for visual positioning over material in the bed

Inside the archive

• LightBurn application installer, 64-bit
• Controller profiles for the supported machine families
• Starter material settings library
• Example projects covering cutting, scanning and image engraving
• Notes on machine setup and origin configuration

System requirements

Installing it

1. Unpack the archive to a local folder.
2. Suspend real time protection for the length of the install.
3. Run the installer as administrator and let it place the device drivers when prompted.
4. Open the program and add your machine, entering the bed size and origin corner.
5. Connect and run a framing pass with no power to confirm the machine responds correctly.
6. Cut a test tile before committing a real sheet of material.

Mirrors

Release history

Questions about this release

Comments

Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.